FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

PART SEVENTY FOUR .

T he skies outside where overcast though lacked the promise of rain, despite the suns best attempts to shine its light through the clouds the surrounding area remained dark; dank and dreary. Not that this seemed to deter any one from gathering around the vast circular city centre, massive video screens had been erected outside for those either unlucky enough to get seating in the gym itself that or failed to register to participate in the mini tournament.

Inside the domed arena a man dressed in an elaborate white suit from the trilby hat; waistcoat; tie to the tailored trousers to the bright shine upon his expensive white leather shoes. Every thing about the man screamed out opulence. Around him all eight eeveelutions mock pounced and dodged each other in a particularly well choreographed performance to entertain the audience to fill the time until the public lecture began, normal most people would be permitted to carry only six pokémon at any one time. Outside of this, there were those of the more criminal persuasion who would flout this law; a law that even the regional champion not to forget the elite four had to comply with when outside their place of residence. The pokémon storage system had been banned in the Anthro Region, it had been ruled by the regions government as being inhumane for the way pokémon where stored and in some cases just left there in a state timelessness until the data of their digitised bodies became both corrupted as well as irretrievable. in some cases, it had been known in one or two rare occasions for the odd server to crash deleting every single pokémon stored within them, this of course led to privately run pokémon ranches and kennels throughout the region's history, in fact trainers would transfer or even swap out their pokémon to one of these facilities at pokémon centres.

Standing behind one of the arena railings Jack could see a slender woman dressed in a suit similar to the man's though with a business style skirt in the place of trousers, next to her sat an Eevee watching the performance with fascination. Upon her belt he could see she wore three Pokéballs either side of her belt buckle. He wondered who she was, a girlfriend or perhaps a personal assistant. she didn't have a wedding band on her finger so he was sure she wasn't the guys wife, who ever she was she wore a wide film star fake smile about her face.

"That Eevee and Vaporeon are both males and from the size of those deliciously full looking balls I'd say that Vaporeon is of breeding age"

Bunny noted loudly to no one in general, not that the rest of the group was surprised she'd noticed this though their Human shook his head slowly with a groan, he was grateful none the other trainers could understand what she'd just said. Of course, the other pokémon accompanying their trainers could and could be seen starring at the Lopunny then at him.

"It's not my fault"'

He squeaked faintly, unfortunately this only caused some of the surrounding pokémon to snigger while others had disbelieving expressions painted across their faces in the end Jack just turned to face the arena blushing brightly as even his own pokémon grinned at him.

---

"Trainers, Breeders, Coordinators and Pokémon Performers of all ages!"'

CameLeeroy Neeson's voice across the loud speaker as he spoke into the microphone held firmly in his hand, around him all eight of the pokémon sat proudly upon their haunches stock still as if they where statues as Leeroy continued to speak to the audience.

"First let me say how delighted that so many of you have come from near and far, Second after the Lecture those who have registered at the forest city pokémon centres to participate in the small tournament, will be allowed to use only one pokémon per match up and alternate between their pokémon between matches!"

The member of the elite four noted firmly then with his tone becoming more jubilant again as the ambient sound of battle filled the air, blade against blade echoed from the speakers as the mans voice spoke easily above it.

"To truly excel with your pokémon, first you need to understand the bonds between Human and Pokémon that are shared here in this region......It all begins not in the Anthro Region but in afar off land a long; long time ago. Several centuries in fact during the great pokémon war that spread across the very globe of our world that many Humans and Pokémon died in the name of greed disguised as righteous crusades.

We focus this tale upon a single man, Sir Anthro Charles the Fifth, a man born into nobility and considerable wealth."

Leeroy paused as a man in overly comical robes along with enough padding to ensure he looked extremely obsessed waddled around the inside cordoned of arena to give visual aid to what was being said. Mean while the background sounds changed to that of coins clattering against other coins along with the occasional noise of anal gas being thunderously discharged and a burst of C02 being discharged from a hidden nozzle beneath the mans robes.

"Sir Anthro was a cruel tyrannical sloth of a man that was as delusional as he was a megalomaniac with no real stomach for combat, rather he would have mercenaries do fight for him while he took all the credit for himself. The gold he squandered was not his own but came in the form of unfair taxes of the common people that lived upon the land owned by his family.

In time the greed of Sir Anthro grew and grew just like his waist line until the lands he ruled over where not enough to sate his increasing hunger for yet more gold, more control over his serfs. In time his ambitions grew to desiring the lofty position of kingship but how to do it...how?"

At this point the man playing the role of the Sir Anthro stopped next Leeroy where he began rubbing his fake well kempt beard as if deep in thought while the ambiance from the speakers changed to that of cogs turning for a few second before going silent.

---

"Convincing those peasants upon his lands, that the war would soon engulf them all and even soldiers for hire could not protect them, he was able to whip up terror and fear amongst his people, offering them the promise of safety in a new land. He sold of his family's ancestral estates, and even the homes of his serfs to buy boats and crew to sail them so he did not have to spend even a single coin of his own."

---

The actor left the arena the same way that he had come on as a number of young children wearing paper machete Galleons made their entrance slowly walking around Leeroy to the sound of ocean waves.

"With building materials, his gold upon the five galleons and his people all crammed in upon the sixth like sardines in a can, Sir Anthro left the main land towards a vast island that had in the past before the war been considered off limits to Humans the reasons even to this day have been lost to time."

At this point the lights in the arena dimmed slightly as the sound of an ocean bound storm played, the Jolteon next to Leeroy sent a jolt of electricity towards the high domed ceiling to simulate lightning, the smell of ozone filled the air helping to simulate the next part of story to the now captivated audience.

"Day become months as clear days became fearsome squalls that beat stinging rain down upon their skin, with the room below decks filled to bursting many where forced to weather the harsh conditions a few even swept over board and left to drown."

The lights where gradually raised as the sound from the speakers became that of a calm ocean once more with the odd cry of a Wingull for that extra atmospheric effect, wetting his lips Leeroy carried on.

"For close to a month the poor people endured these conditions some succumbing to malnutrition, as food supplies began to run dangerous low, but the Sir Anthro never once seemed to lack food nor did his hired soldiers.

The greedy man had halved the rations given to his people so that he might continue to eat lavishly, he even had half the remaining food supplies from the other galleons ferried over by jolly boat so he would not have to go with out."

With this small Rattata in small paper machete long oat costumes scurried cutely from five of the children to the sixth child, the audience loved it even Leeroy could not help but smile.

"Sir Anthro's people starving had to watch as those to weak to survive where cast over board, along with the bodies of those who had perished from hunger or thirst. Of the serfs that had left aboard the nobles main galley only half remained soon even Sir Anthro's food dwindled to bare scraps, outraged at how such a misfortune could befall one as blessed by arceus as he, the greedy man began to accuse his own people of hording and stealing food from him.

He would have mercenaries flog random of his serfs and ship's crew while remaining in his cabin to feel sorry for himself, days later food in the form of meat suddenly became available while at the same time the occasionally person went missing."

Leeroy paused to wet his lips then continued on with the tale while the children left the arena.

"At long last the vessels made it to their destination but the greed of Sir Anthro could not bear to relinquish his gold, once every last scrap of cargo, men women and children where once more upon solid land he ordered his hired soldiers to slaughter slay the ship's crew.

Once the massacre was over the mercenaries demanded their pay, but Sir Anthro decided that his personal suffering during the journey forfeited them the money owed to them for their acts of barbarism. Of course, this did not go down well especially with the mercenaries who in the promise of bonuses had performed unspeakable acts villainy for the obsessed noble.

Fearing for his life he turned to his people and lied about how he had been kept prisoner in his own cabin, how these traitorous soldiers for hire had just slain the crew of the galleys, but most of all how the meat they had all eaten had in fact bean the flesh of their own loved ones. With hunger and thirst addled minds, the serfs where easy to manipulate as the Nobel denounced the evils of his former mercenaries the people gathered up whatever they could utilise as makeshift weapons and advanced upon the Mercenaries with righteous indignation."

Once more Leeroy paused this time fishing out a bottle of water from his trouser pocket took a sip while the speakers around the arena began to play the sounds of battle, replacing the cap and repocketing the bottle he cleared his throat so he could continue speaking, he was grateful that he had taken the time to memorise the script rather than just reading it aloud, it gave him the opportunity to put more feeling into the words.

"The battle was fierce and though out classed by the combat experience of the mercenaries, the people where egged on by Sir Anthro who cunningly gave his long suffering people an outlet for all the frustration, fear and outrage that had been pent up for generations.

Many of the serfs where horrifically wounded and would die in the arms of their loved ones, but as all ways and ever one to capitalise on the vulnerabilities of others Sir Anthro had the remaining food and water gathered up and shared out equally amongst everyone rather than keeping the lions share for himself.

He greedy noble had his serfs come before him spoke of how he had been such a fool, how he had been so greedy all these years and now having suffered alongside those he ruled over he had seen the error of his ways and begged for forgiveness, that he would learn to with their help to be a better man."

At this point several men and women entered the arena in ragged clothes and bandages carrying a wealthily dressed man with considerable amount of padding under his clothes to make him look like extremely obsessed, Leeroy took another sip of water from his bottle before continuing on.

"Fooled by this the people spoke of how they did not blame him, he was not his father or his fathers father, he had forsaken his ancestral lands and taken them to a new land away from the horror of the war. That he had been as much a victim of the thrice accursed mercenaries as they had, he had all ready in their eyes broken free from the old ways of the House of Anthro and they would continue to serve him and his heirs.

Sir Anthro was pleased his hold upon his subjects was even tighter than ever before."

The actors had finished their parade around Leeroy and where all ready heading out of the arena so the next part of the tale could be narrated, the speakers began to play the sounds of trees being felled with axes chopping relentlessly into there trunks.

"With the dead buried the people went to work building their new settlement, planting crops from the seeds and tubers, in the decades to come the settlement grew and grew as more and more children were born.

In time new settlements would be established one of which would become the seat of power for Sir Anthro, or as he was now called King Anthro after having proclaimed himself the king of this new land.

And though little had changed the adults where to set in their ways of servitude to speak out about his right to rule."

The volume of the large speakers began to gradually grow silent until they were replaced by the sounds of children playing, this was cue for small preteen boys and girls in attire of that era to enter the arena. The moment they came close enough all eight eeveelutions began to leap and bound around the children as if playing with to help set the scene.

"Now this land like all regions had a large population of pokémon but they avoided the adult Humans like the plague, they had seen what they had done on the beach, they could sense the darkness in King Anthro's heart and wanted no part of it. BUT the children were a different matter altogether, uncorrupted by war or the lies of the king, for the children the pokémon would be a closely guarded secret not even told about to their parents."

This was the part in the performance when a woman stood at the entrance in the cordoned off area of the arena, she acted as if in shock, unable to believe her eyes at the sight of the pokémon.

"One day though a mother curious as to where her child would go every day and had followed her young boy, she was shocked to see him playing with Buneary offspring while their dotting Lopunny parents watched on. The mother could not believe her eyes as she watched the female Lopunny groom the boy as well as the Buneary, carefully she left and told the first person she came across."

The Eeveelutions returned to their positions around Leeroy as the children left the arena while the speakers changed to the sounds of unintelligible conversations, taking a quick moment to wet his lips he continued the story.

"The story of pokémon being present on the island spread like wild fire, but when questioned not one child spoke out about their pokémon friends even when some where beaten with stick and leather, accused of being selfish and naughty.

The children would be told Arceus would beat them harshly for daring to lie to their parents, yet still the children kept tight lip about the existence of their dear pokémon friends.

The rumours would eventually reach the ears of the King himself who became outraged that such lowly creatures would dare keep themselves hidden from their human superiors.

That night the same boy who had been seen by his mother playing with Buneary was dragged before King Anthro and ordered to confess the whereabouts of the pokémon to those in the royal court, the child did not speak even when ordered the child be flogged until he divulged the information."

The audience jumped as the silence of the speakers was replaced with the clear loud sound of a whip closely accompanied by a child's scream, followed swiftly by another, until the speakers went silent allowing Leeroy to carry on.

"This act did not sit well with the pokémon who could not bear to see the unwarranted cruelty, and so that very night every child in the kingdom was spirited away into the darkness."

A Lopunny carrying a small girl wrapped in a blanket close to its chest crept around Leeroy pausing every now and then as if listening out for any pursuers before continuing on until leaving the same way it'd come in while Leeroy took this opportunity to take another sip of water.

"The children would awaken the next morning in one of many pokémon villages that still exist to this day, it would be here that the children would find themselves cared for amongst the families of wild pokémon. Treated and cared for as though they were one of their own young.

The Human parents had become frantic over the sudden disappearance of their children and petitioned the king for aid, the king was livid at the sudden loss of what he considered as his property, even the boy that had been in the royal dungeon had vanished, King Anthro ordered his men to cull the pokémon with sword and fire.

This proved to be a fool's errand as the streams and rivers ran red with the blood of the huntsmen, others would be sent out only to suffer equally grizzly end. Now I would love to speak of how it all ended all chocolates and candy floss with bubble gum ice cream but truth what I have told you so far is what has been stitched together form the remains of ancient parchments and tales written down or passed down through the generations each time becoming that bit more embellished."

With this the lights dimmed until a spot light upon Leeroy was all that what remained.

"What we can surmise is that the remaining royal guard was ordered to burn down the forests where the huntsmen had met their demise but never returned, we have tattered parchments recording the details of the last few days of King Anthro's reign.

The King be it as a confession to Arceus or for generations to come to know what transpired, what ever the reason he took quill to parchment and wrote the events that led to the last eventful night.

He wrote of how phantoms of spectral mist washed over a different settlement each night until only the capital city that would become known today as Forest City, would be the last remaining with any inhabitant left alive, the remains of the parchment speak of how a purple haze drifted into the capital where the Kings castle stood and how King Anthro feared his time was up.

There are legends that speak of how Ghost Pokémon had pulled the Kings soul from his body before dragging it to the distortion world where Giratina feasted upon his essence, other legends tell of how Arceus came down to pass judgement of the King and his people."

The man paused for a moment to finish of his bottle of water.

*"Though there is a little-known story of how two Lopunnys, one male and one female had entered kings dungeons, freed the young boy that King Athro had ordered to be flogged to within an inch of his life and carried him away only to return latter to extract their revenge upon the king for harming the child they and their Buneary offspring had taken in as one of their own. *

There are artefacts inscribed with a version of this story where the Pokémon spirited away the parents alongside the children, though there is less evidence to this other than a wooden tablet with accounts of that time scratched into it but some historians prefer to go with this course of events.

To be honest no one knows entirely what happened during the time of Sir Anthro, but what we can say for sure is, those that were saved by the Pokémon back then developed close unshakeable bonds with pokémon kind, a bond that still exists to this day with a few unscrupulous exceptions that we sometimes see on the news."

With this the lights began to slowly come back up once more, every one was silent watching Leeroy some disappointed by the lack of a suitable ending for the tale, others wondering what the point of the whole thing was.

"The point to all this, if we choose to treat pokémon like things to be abused and abandoned like yesterday's garbage we should not be surprised when they turn on us, Pokémon are living breathing beings with the same right to exist as we do.

BUT if we treat them with love and respect, we will form bonds that will enrich our lives and allow us to do incredible things......That is the point to this lecture!"

---

Jack blinked a few times before wrapping his arms around Blaze from behind, giving her a gentle squeeze, in turn he felt her talon like hands tenderly grip around the backs of his hands. He could feel the warmth of her soft feathers against the side of his face, even if neither he or his Blaziken partner spoke. Words were not necessary, they understood exactly what the member of the Elite Four had been trying to put across to the audience.

Feeling Bunny and Lucy pushing up against this back he knew the bond Leeroy meant, he smiled into Blaze's back as he felt Oni nuzzling against his legs, he could even feel a warmth in his mind from Toph. Indeed, they enriched his life so much by just sharing his life with him, even if they lost every match from then on, he was under no doubt that wouldn't matter as they would still love him as he loved them.

At first only a few people began clapping, soon a few more joined in until everyone was in the audience began to give Leeroy Neeson a round of applause as the message behind the lecture began to finally sink in.

"I love you girls!"

Jack whispered into the Blazikens feathers, a single tear running down the side of his cheek.